What's Left
by lady-warrioress
Summary: Peter doesn't return to Neverland and Tinkerbell flies to the real world to find him only to discover the real world has changed. drastically.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Too much time had gone by. Way too much time.

Tinker bell looked out the window of the lost boys hideout, frowning. Where was Peter Pan? She'd been waiting for him to return to Neverland for what seemed like forever now. He would usually come back quickly. Had he gotten distracted with that girl Wendy? Maybe that was it. He'd decided to stay with that girl and grow up.

No! That made no sense. No way would he suddenly change his mind about growing up just because of some girl.

But what happened then?

The fairy decided to find out for herself.

Pushing the window open with a shove, she flew out of the hideout and into the air, taking off into the sky and toward the real world. It was time to find Peter and bring him home where he belonged.

* * *

A terrible surprise met Tinker bell when she arrived in the real world. As the clouds cleared from her eyes she found herself staring down at a vast wasteland.

Below she could make out ruined buildings and a barren landscape. As far as she could see from this height there was nothing green growing, as if it all had died, only dust colored ground and crumbling heaps that were once pristine homes and businesses.

Unable to believe what she was seeing, the fairy lowered herself and hovered only a few feet above the city of London. As she drew near, the carnage intensified. Now she could see the damaged buildings more clearly and was appaled at how bad it all looked. Ruined houses, dead trees, bricks and mortar strewn across the ground and even wrecked cars, some of them had smashed into trees as if their drivers had lost control. This was not how she remembered the world. It looked alien, as if she'd stepped onto a different planet.

That was impossible, this had to be the right world, but if so, what had happened to it? More importantly, where was Peter and had gotten away before any of this had happened?

Tinker bell zipped down the street that she hoped the house of the Darling family was located on. She had to get to the place and see if anyone was there. Hopefully nothing had happened to Peter.

But first she had to find the Darling's house and she knew this wouldn't be easy. She flew down another street and eventually came upon the house, or what was left of it.

Tinker bell stopped herself and stared at the house, allowing herself to let it sink in and realize what she was seeing wasn't an illusion.

The house was a ruin. The windows had been broken out and part of the roof had fallen in as if soemthing heavy had landed on it from above. The window that led into the Darling children's nursery room was completely gone, with nothing but a gaping hole in its place.

The nursery was blown out?!

Tinker bell flew quickly up to the blown out window and floated inside, only to come across a terrible horror when she caught sight of the interior.

Bodies.

Bodies lay strewn all over the nursery. She could make out Wendy's two brothers from where she was and her parents too, as if the family had gone into the room to hide. They all looked like they'd been caught up in the blast, their bodies partly covered by debris.

They were dead all right. If they were dead what about Peter?

Wanting desperately to know she flew into the hole in the wall and looked around herself, taking in the ruined bedroom. She didn't see Wendy or Peter among the bodies though so they might have left the room. Where would they go?

Flying?

That sounded like something Peter and Wendy would do. They had to have gone off flying, it was nearly a habit when them. They'd even done that a lot in Neverland. But where?

Big Ben?

That might be it, that had to be it, the alternative was way too painful to think about. But just as she turned to fly out of the Darling's nursery, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to see what it was she froze, an icy terror going through her body.

An oddly shaped shadow was moving down the street just outside the house. Its top was an odd rounded shape and was joined by the sound of metal scraping against metal. Obviously it wasn't Peter, but what was it? A second later her questioned was answered when a large tripedaled machine came lumbering into view. It was dark gray and had a large round red eye in the center of it that shone like a search light. It paused a moment and moved it's "head" and eye around as if it were searching for something.

She gasped then covered her mouth, realizing that might be a bad idea. That machine looked dangerous it might go after her for all she knew and it might even have the ability to pick up sounds. She sure hoped not.

It would be a good idea to get out of there just to be on the safe side.

With that in mind, she turned away and began to fly further into the house, out of view of the metal monster. With the machine guarding the hole there wasn't any way she could get out that way without being seen, which she kenw would be a bad idea. No way that thing was friendly, it looked nasty.

But the machine seemed to have some sort of motion sensor inside it and it's dome head instantly swivilled in her direction. Before she knew what was happening the machine was firing bullets at her. She shrieked and flew off into the house to get away from its folly of bullets.

The pixy flew into the hallway to put a wall between herself and the fire power and down it to the stairs. They seemed to be the safest place in building, at least for now. The machine didn't look like it was built to get inside the building anyway which was a good thing.

Or so she thought.

Suddenly the house started to shake as if an earthquake had suddenly started. Whatever was left on the shelves and walls crashed to the floor all around her in a loud and dirty mess. The fairy pressed herself hard against the wall, hoping nothing fell on top of her on its way to the floor. This went on for what seemed like hours before it stopped.

Tinker bell listened for a moment, expecting her ears to pick up sounds of movement, but heard nothing. She sighed in relief. It was gone, or at least that's what she told herself. She started to fly slowly away from the wall but just as she did so it collapsed inward and she had to zip quickly keep from being crushed by it.

The room filled with dust as bits and pieces of the wall and the insalation crashed around her. She coughed briefly before hearing the sound of metal again. Turning her head, she spotted a round red light coming toward her and as the dust settled, it revealed the walking machine that she'd seen before... or was in another one?

The fairy didn't have long to think about this before the machine began to fire at her and she had to fly quickly away to keep from getting hit. She zipped off into another room, the kitchen, and saw the glass broken out of the window. Spotting a way of escape she flew toward it.

Just as she reached the window a large red light appeared in the broken glass and she had to try her best not to fly into it but it was hard to stop and she had to grab onto the glass that remained in the window frame to avoid flying straight into it. It stopped her but her hands got cut by the sharp edges and started to bleed even as she held on tightly to the slippery shards.

Now Tinker bell was hanging right in front of that big, red eye which was staring emotionlessly back at her. Tinker bell's eyes widened in terror as the machine took in her tiny figure a moment before that noise started again and then the glass she was holding onto exploded as the bullet from the robot's gun hit it.

She shrieked as she fell with the broken glass, spinning crazilly as she plummeted. She seemed to fall for an eternity before hitting the hard ground which was followed by a loud snapping sound and a seering pain in her back.

Her wings had broken!

She didn't have that long to think about it because the red eye turned its focus back onto her. Without hesitation she scrambled to her feet and took off running unable to fly. She could hear the machine firing at her as she ran but didn't look over her shoulder. She had to focus on what was ahead so she wouldn't fall over something.

She hadn't gotten far when another machine appeared around the side of the house and stood in her path, its large red eye falling on her tiny figure. The fairy froze in her tracks, her eyes lifting up to stare at the monster of death. There was more than one?!

That machine shot at her too so forcing her to turn in the opposite direction only to be confronted by the first machine which now stood over her. She looked from one to the other, realizing she was trapped. What was she going to do now? She couldn't fly and the machines were blocking her escape. Any minute now they'd start shooting and she had no way out of this.

Then, just as it seemed that she was going to become a dead fairy, a loud noise, that sounded something like an air raid siren, distracted the machines and gave her the chance she'd been praying for. The machines instantly fired at her when she took off, because her movements were caught in their built in motion sensors. She let out a scream as she ran, picking up speed and dashing across the street to another building.

The house across the street had a basement window broken out below the front porch steps. She made a beeline for that and dived inside without a look back. The fairy crashed into some boxes set up just inside the window then she and the boxes crashed to the cold cement floor.

Coughing, she fought her way out of the mess of boxes and dust to fresh air only to freeze when she heard that metallic noise again. Looking up she could see that red light looking into the basement. She held still, hoping the two robots wouldn't see her or shoot at her if they saw her inside. For a moment it seemed the machines would not go away but eventually both of the lights vanished from the window and she could hear the duo walking away.

Tinker bell sighed in relief once the metal monsters were no longer in sight and slipped out of the box, wincing when the pain from her broken wings came screaming back to her. Now that she wasn't distracted the outcome of her misadventure came shooting to her body.

Wincing she looked over her shoulder, noticing the wings hanging limply against her back. She reached back to touch them but thought better of it. They were broken and unmoving, she didn't have to add more pain to this to confirm it.

Slowly the fairy got to her feet, wincing as her broken wings screamed at her for doing so, and looked around. She was in a cold, dark basement. Boxes and broken preserves littered the floor around her, creating sticky puddles on the gray stone floor. At the other end of the room were stairs which led up to the kitchen. She was going to have to climb them to get out of there but first she had to wait until she was sure it was safe to leave. If her wings hadn't been damaged she could have done this easily...

For now she would wait until she was absolutely sure the machines were gone before she did anything else. Just because she couldn't see or hear them at the moment didn't mean they had found something else to do. It could be hours until she was absolutely sure so she sat down on the musty floor and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them and sighing.

She just hoped they would not take their time.

* * *

The machines were still active, 7 thought to herself as she watched the metal monsters off in the distance wander aimlessly through the ruined city. 1 had been wrong after all, just as she'd expected.

But she couldn't exactly blame 1 for holding on to that belief. He'd been hoping it was true. The sounds of chaos and violence had grown softer over the past few weeks as the battle moved further away. That must have given him a FALSE hope which spurred 7 on to prove him wrong. She didn't know why she always felt obligated to do such things but it was becoming a defining part of her personality, even if 2 had scolded her about it before.

Speaking of 2...

The female stitchpunk tilted her head downward, looking toward the street where the old inventor was puttering around, collecting odd things to add to his collection. He seemed to be perfectly content and didn't seem the least bit concerned about what might be waiting around the corner.

Not that he couldn't take care of himself if he had to. 2 had his own weapon and was perfectly capable of warding off any threats. He'd actually been the one to teach her how to be a competent fighter and she was grateful for the training, though she had to chuckle every time she thought about how kind, caring, peaceful 2 was anything but a pushover. If only he used some of that fighting spirit when he confronted 1 about things...

If only.

"7, do you see anything?" 2 called up to her.

"I saw a few near the outside of the city!" she called back to him. "but that doesn't mean there aren't any still wandering the streets. Not all of the machines were as large as those walkers. The smaller ones could still be here."

"Yes, you're right," he agreed sadly. "but I think it would be easier to spot them from down here. They can hide too easily and looking at the city from above wouldn't do make it much better."

7 knew he was right and she slowly climbed down from her perch, joining him back by the roller skate he'd converted into a wagon to hold the items he found. "Maybe they, like the larger ones, all left," she told him. "like 1 said."

"That could be it," 2 nodded. "or like you said they're just hiding in the holes and crevices all over the city,waiting for something living to enter their territory so they can kill it."

7 frowned. "I don't think anyone living would be foolish enough to come back here after all that's happened."

"You never know..." he looked at the empty streets. "But if anything is left we should try to help them."

"But how?" she wanted to know. "We're small and they might mistake us for machines. What could we do to help humans?"

2 smiled. "We can start by seeing if there are any left." he put his hand on her arm. "Come. We have a lot to do before we must head back."

7 nodded with agreement. "Good idea." she placed one hand on 2's shoulder. "Stay close."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, 7, he told her. "I'll be just fine."

"I know you will," she replied. "I don't question that at all."

* * *

A few hours later she jolted awake, feeling a sudden urgency in her chest. She looked around a moment, trying to get her bearings. When she remembered where she was and why she was there she tensed, her eyes trailing up to the window she'd com,e through.

By then it was dark out and extremely quiet,. She couldn't even hear any crickets chirping.

Well now wasn't the time to think about that. She had to move and move quickly.

So without another thought she pressed ahead and crossed the basement, doing her best to keep from stepping on broken glass and ruined preserves.

The blond fairy managed to avoid stepping in the juices by being extremely careful. She nearly lost her footing a few times trying not to step in the gunk but eventually reached the stairs without incident. Once she got there she paused to catch her breath.

She would need all her strength to climb those stairs...

This was going to be a long night and she was not looking forward to it at all.

Darn it.

Pushing that out of her mind, she placed her hands on the bottom step and pushed herself up onto it, slowly pulling her body upward and onto the rough wood of the staircase. Once she got on the step she flopped over, panting. Just climbing up one of them had taken a lot out of her.

This going to take longer than she expected.

Sitting up she lifted her head locking her dark blue eyes on the door far above her head. From this position it looked even further away than it had from the floor. Staring up at it for too long made her feel dizzy and she had to lower her head so her vision would steady.

This wasn't going to be fun at all. How she wished her wings hadn't been broken! But she had to do it. It was either that or stay down in this dirty hole for the rest of her life and that wasn't going to work! She hadn't even found Peter yet!

She slowly stood up and faced the next stair. Best to keep going than to sit there and pout. She'd never get anything done that way. She grabbed the next step and continued her long and boring climb.

* * *

"These houses all seem empty," 7 observed as the two stitchpunks walked down the ruined streets. "I don't think anyone is left, 2."

"Hmm..." the older stitchpunk looked around, spotting bodies laying prone here and there. They looked like they'd been there for awhile "If anyone were here is seems they either fled or died..."

She nodded with resignation. He was right and it made her feel a little sad. She also looked at the bodies, beginning to feel a sense of depression rising inside her chest. The machines seemed to have been dispatched for the sole purpose of destroying any form of organic life, especially the gas the machines had ejected.

7 looked at a tree that had once been green with life. Had it only been a few months ago? It was now nothing more than a bare skeleton, its leaves scattered, brown and crumbling, on the ground.

If only things could have been different...

A noise jarred her out of her thoughts. She jumped, startled by the sound and looked around herself quickly. What was that?

2 obviously heard it too because he asked. "Did you hear that, 7?"

She confirmed it with a nod. Indeed she had. "It sounds like we're about to have trouble," she replied, gripping her spear.

2 nodded with confirmation, picking up his lance from the wagon and standing beside her. "Keep an eye out," he warned her."We don't know what it could be."

She nodded, her optics already scanning the piles of garbage from ruined buildings for any sign of trouble. It seemed quiet and peaceful but something told her trouble was waiting just around the corner...

* * *

Tinker bell let out a tired gasp as she hauled herself onto the third to last basaement stair and flopped onto her side with a sigh. Almost there, she told herself in relief. Only a few more steps to go. For now though she would let herself rest because she hadn't done so since she's climbed the first step which seemed like hours ago.

Actually it was hours ago. The sky outside the basement window was beginning to brighten with the dawn sunlight.

Suddenly she heard a strange sound come from above. The fairy sat up with a start and looked up at the partly opened basement door. What was that? Where had it come from-

There it was again!

Some skittering sound. It sounded like it was coming from inside the kitchen. She frowned. What was that? Curiosity overtook her and she got up and grabbed the next step to haul her up. As she did she heard the sound again and this time it was much closer. Pausing, she listened again.

Yes, it was indeed closer and now she could pick up what sounded like metal tapping wood. Fear started creeping back into her chest as the realization hit her that whatever was moving around up there might be another one of those metal monsters she'd encountered earlier.

Great, just great.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to the stairs and see her, but she could take any chances. The problem was how was she going to prevent that thing from seeing her? She was exposed and had no real way of avoiding being seen unless she went back down the stairs into the basement and no way was she willing to do such a thing after she'd spent so many hours climbing these blasted things to get where she was! Her only real option was to stay completely still and hope it wouldn't come any closer.

So she waited, her eyes completely focused on the door as she listened to the sounds of the machine skittering across the kitchen floor. It seemed to be getting closer and she was starting to feel panic rising inside her. If it saw her and attacked she'd have no way of escaping!

* * *

7 glanced over at 2 briefly and, receiving a nod from him, moved forward cautiously. Her senses were on alert and ready for any trouble they might come across. She could hear 2 moving behind her and knew he would watch her back and make sure nothing sneaked up on them.

"Where do you think it's hiding?" she whispered to him.

"I don't know," he responded in the same quiet voice. "It could be anywhere."

"Well it can't be too far away," she replied. "If it was we wouldn't be able to hear it moving around."

"Not exactly," he corrected her quietly. "It's so quiet here that any sound that is too loud will echo off all the buildings. That creature could be pretty far away but we can't be too careful."

She nodded in agreement and looked around once more. "Do you think it might be inside one of these houses?" she questioned him.

"It might," he agreed. "I think it would be wise to make sure."

"Good idea."

2 pointed to a house across the street from where they stood. "Let's start there."

* * *

The skittering had moved to right on the other side of the basement half open door now which made Tinker bell begin to feel even more nervous. It was close, too close, and she wished it would just move away or even leave. Yeah, it should leave and find some other place to walk around in.

But she didn't really have much confidence it would, only a tiny hope that grew smaller the longer that thing lingered near that door and the staircase where she sat.

Go away, go away, she thought, trying to force her own will on the creature. Just go away and find some other place to explore or whatever it is you do. Just don't come through that door!

But it seemed the machine wanted to do the opposite of what she wanted and she heard it creeping even closer to the basement door.

"No," she hissed under her breath. "Go away, go away. go go go go."

But it didn't go. It skittered to the door then paused briefly before it started to slowly push the door open the rest of the way. She sat there, frozen to the step as the door slowly slid open.

Then it stopped and a little machien that looked like an insect skittered onto the landing but stopped when it caught sight of her. For a moment they stared at each other then it let out an unearthly shriek and leaped at her.

* * *

2 and 7, who were heading to the aforementioned house, heard the scream and stopped in their tracks.

"What was that?" she asked, looking at the old inventor.

The older stitchpunk gripped his lance. "It sounds like there is some life left in this city after all," he responded. "and it's in trouble." He took off running. "Come on, 7!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tinkerbell threw herself sideways out of the machines path to avoid being tackled. When she did her shoulder slammed painfully into the stone wall built on the left side of the staircase. The machine landed on a step a little ways down, then spun around and started climbing up toward her. The fairy quickly scrambled to her feet and dashed for the next step, reaching up and pulling herself on to it.

The machine took a swipe at her as she did, missing her legs but managing to knock off one of her shoes. She gasped then fell sideways, rolling out of the way on the higher step. It shrieked at her and started to climb after her. She quickly righted herself and grabbed the wooden board of the landing and pulled herself up as quickly as she could, though it wasn't fast enough.

The next instant she felt herself being pulled back down, right toward the creature as it had managed to grasp her leg with one of its clawed spider legs. Flipping over, she kicked out at the robot with her shoeless foot, trying to dislodge it's grasp.

Unfortunately the machine held on, it's grip like a vice on her ankle. Suddenly it yanked hard and pulled her down. She landed on her back on the step right in front of the monster. As she tried to right herself, the machine let out another shriek and she looked up to see it bearing down on her. She scrambled to her feet only to flop back over when it became clear the creature still had a grip on her leg.

She was in big trouble.

* * *

"There!" 2 exclaimed, pointing to a ruined house when another scream split the air.

7 took off running toward the indicated dwelling, her spear gripped rightly in her left hand and ready to do business. She could hear 2 following behind her, albeit at a slightly slower pace. He wasn't as young as she was so she couldn't fault him for it. Despite his age he was still a skilled fighter and she was glad he'd be there to act as her back up. After all, he'd taught her everything she knew.

The front door had been blown off in a bomb blast during the war so the two stitchpunks rushed inside without any problems and dashed off in the direction of the scream when they heard another one split the air. They entered a kitchen littered with pieces of food, plaster and glass and paused very briefly to look around, listening carefully for any sounds of life. Aside from the mess there was nothing in the room, especially something breathing that could scream bloody murder.

"Where is the human?" 7 asked, frowning. She'd been expecting to come into the kitchen and spot a person, most likely a girl from the screams, laying on the floor looking terrified about something. "There's nobody here."

But 2 wasn't so quick to draw the same conclusion and started walking forward. He'd only moved two steps when another scream split the air. 2 looked back at 7 then dashed off toward the partly open basement door.

"This way!" he shouted back to her.

* * *

The machine had swung Tinkerbell around, yanking her off the floor turning to hold her over the side of the stairs. Her body dangling in space, feet above the stone floor of the basement. If a human had fallen from this height they probably wouldn't have gotten hurt but she was much small and if that machine dropped her she'd be smashed into tiny pieces. She shrieked in terror, her only good wing flapping uselessly. It was going to drop her and she couldn't do anything about it!

But it didn't let her go, at least not right away. It merely held her there as it seemed to run a scan over her, seemingly reassuring itself what it was holding was a living, breathing, organic being. She was so small she couldn't be a human, but she didn't look like anything else.

Suddenly the robot jerked sideways, nearly dropping the fairy in the process. It made a shrieking sound and looked upward, trying to figure what had happened. Tinkerbell did the same, wondering what had caused it to make such a sound.

From what she could make out two figures stood at the top of the stairs, two strange looking figures. They looked like the toys in the Darling children's bedroom. The duo of dolls also looked very unhappy.

The robot made a screeching sound as it turned its single eye on the two dolls towering over it. More living beings, dangerous ones. It seemed to process this quickly and moved toward them, unconsciously dragging Tinkerbell back onto the stair and out of danger.

7 jumped down from above platform and started her assault on the machine, swinging her spear in a wide arch. It shrieked at her and dropped the fairy onto the stair so it could better fight against the stitchpunk. The female stitchpunk swung her spear at its eye, trying to blind it so it wouldn't be able to fight back properly.

While they fought, 2, meanwhile, climbed down to help her while Tinkerbell pushed herself up, only to pause when she saw the doll creatures attacking the robot.

She stared in utter confusion, not exactly sure what she was witnessing. What were these things exactly and why were they fighting with something that obviously seemed to be similar in looks? Was she dreaming? Was this even real? She couldn't wrap her mind around it, not that she really had the time to do such a thing anyway because the next minute the trio of robots took their fight over to where she was and she was forced to get out of the way.

They went right past her completely focused on their battle. This gave Tinkerbell a chance to make a break for it and with no further thought, she rushed over to the landing and pulled herself up onto it. Once she was up, she took to running, which caught the attention of the machine which shoved the two stitchpunks away and took off after her.

It was not going to let her escape.

Tinkerbell heard it coming after her and with a new burst of speed rushed through the kitchen without a single look back.

"It's after her!" 2 exclaimed, getting up off the floor and rushing to help 7 to her feet. "We have to stop it before it hurts her!"

7 was already moving, jumping quickly to her feet and hopping up the stairs like a graceful deer. She took off after the machine, sprinting across the floor. Behind her; 2 moved quickly to follow her, though he was a bit slower due to his age.

Tinkerbell tripped on a fallen piece of wood just before she reached the kitchen doorway. She landed on her hands and knees and started to get upright only to hear that machine coming up behind her. She looked over her shoulder in fear.

Just then 7 threw herself at the machine, landing on the back of it. The female stitchpunk shoved her spear into it, making sparks shoot all over the place. It screeched and thrashed about, trying to dislodge her off its back. The female stitchpunk held on, digging the spear further into the thing's mechanical workings.

By then 2 had caught up with them and joined the female in the fight, throwing his lance at the machine with deadly accuracy. Tinkerbell found herself unable to look away from the fight this time, watching with a mixture of awe and horror.

The two dolls seemed to be doing a good job taking out the machine though the robot itself wasn't going down that easily. It knocked them away quite a few times, managing to dislodge the white one from on top of it and throw her into the brown colored one. Once it succeeded in knocking them away once more it turned its attention back on the fairy and came barreling toward her.

Tinkerbell in turn scrambled to her feet and started running for her life.

She hadn't gotten very far when the machine reached out and slapped her, knocking her across the room and into the wall. When she crumbled to the floor the two stitchpunks once more jumped onto the machine, stabbing it with their spears. This time they managed to take it down, but not without much effort. Once they managed to sever all it's wires and shut it down for good it crumbled to the floor with one final screech.

Once it was dead the two got off the body, panting heavily. They looked over at tinkerbell who'd fainted dead away.

"What is that?" 7 asked, looking at 2. "It's too small to be a human but it looks like one."

"I don't know..." 2 walked over to the unconscious fairy and knelt down beside her, studying her body, especially her wings. "But we can't leave her here." he looked over his shoulder at the female stitchpunk. "Come on, let's take her back to the sanctuary."

* * *

Tinkerbell came to in a silent, dark room. She gasped, sitting up and looking around herself, trying to figure out where she was and how she got there.

The fairy discovered she was in a dimly lit room with only a small light from a candle to help her see. Tinkerbell concluded she was in some kind of workshop. Not a human workshop, though. The tools were human sized but most seemed to be made from small items and their purposes were not the same as they might have been if they'd been used by a human. The fairy frowned, confused by the odd look of everything. Was she back in Neverland? Had the events of her visit to London merely been a dream the entire time?

No, that definitely had happened, it was way to real to be a nightmare. Also her wing started hurting again. Shifting she spotted her reflection in a broken hand mirror laying on the floor and paused when she noticed that her wing looked like it was in some kind of splint and wouldn't move when she tried flapping it. The only thing she accomplished from that action was a stabbing pain in her back.

"I wouldn't advice moving too much right now," spoke up a voice behind her.

Tinkerbell jumped, startled by the sound, nearly falling off the table she was laying on. She quickly regained her balance and looked in the direction the voice had come from. She saw something that looked like one of the dolls from earlier standing in a small doorway like opening. While he looked similar, this one was brown and only had one eye, the left side of his face covered by a patch.

"Don't be afraid," he said softly, walking toward her. "I won't hurt you."

Somehow she knew he was telling the truth and relaxed slighly. "Where am I?" she asked he looking around herself.

"Sanctuary," he replied. "2 and 7 found you in a biulding being attacked by a machine and brought you here to get patched up after they disposed of it. They said you were knocked around pretty badly."

"What are you?" she asked, wanting to change the subject. She didn't want to be reminded of it since it was still fresh in her memory.

"Well that's a complicated question," the doll replied, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous fashion. "2 calls us stitchpunks but I don't know our real name or where we came from... Why?"

"I've never seen anything like you before..."

"That's okay," he said. "We didn't come into an existence until recently."

The fairy had no response to that, though she could have asked him many questions about it. Instead, she looked away and focused her attention back on the items in the room.

"Ummm, excuse me?" the one eyed doll spoke up again to bring her attention back to him. When she looked his way, he said. "I hope you don't find me rude for saying but um... What are you? I mean I've never seen anything like you anymore. You look like a human but you're so small..."

"I'm a fairy."

"What's a fairy?"

Now how did he expect her to explain that?! "A fairy is a fairy," she said as if it should be obvious. "It's small, has wings, and magic."

"Magic?"

Oh boy.

"Yeah, magic..." she frowned. How was she to explain this and actually make sense? Right now she wasn't even sure she could use her magic to show him what she meant, not with her wing broken. She still glowed but there wasn't even any pixie dust coming from her since her wings couldn't move. "Never mind."

"Okay..." 5 looked unsure though, as if he wanted to ask more questions but chose not because he didn't want to anger her.

Then there was an awkward silence. 5 wanted to ask more questions but Tinkerbell really wasn't in the mood say anything further. How was she even sure she could trust him completely? He might be lying and was really exactly like one of those monsters that had attacked her earlier, except he could talk.

"Excuse me."

The fairy looked at him again.

"Are you all right?" he asked somewhat cautiously. "Do you need anything?"

"Well I am kind of hungry..."

"Hungry?" he looked confused.

"Yes, I'm hungry," she said. "Do you have any food?" Now he looked even more confused, his expression asking the question his mouth hadn't. "You don't know what food is, do you?"

"I'm sorry." he shook his head. "I don't."

Now how was she going to explain that to him? He was a machine so she couldn't blame him for not knowing what food was or what it was used for.

But she was saved from that problem when another doll entered the room, one of the dolls she'd seen earlier who had attacked the machine. "5, is she awake?" he asked.

5 looked over his shoulder. "Yes, 2," he responded, walking toward him. "She seems to be all right, no ill affects from that attack on her, except the broken wing of course."

"Oh good," 2 walked over and stood in front of Tinkerbell a moment before he started poking her in a curious manner. "Aside from the broken wing, she seems to be perfectly fine."

The fairy didn't like it and scooted away. "Stop it!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized. "Pardon me for being rude. I am just curious."

"Curious about what?"

2 chuckled and stepped back. "Well we've never seen anything like you before so please don't be upset that I find you interesting," he explained. "But I do apologize for being too forward."

That sort of made sense she guessed, though she still didn't appreciate it. "Don't do it again."

"All right," he nodded his head agreeably. "I won't intrude on your personal space unless you give me permission."

5 tugged on 2's arm and whispered to him. "She says she's hungry."

The old stitchpunk blinked. "Hungry?"

"You don't know what it is either, do you?" she asked, exasperated.

"Well, I've heard of it," 2 pondered. "I know it's something that humans become after their fuel supply gets low." he rubbed his head, thoughtfully. "They need something called food."

"That's what she said," 5 told him. "But what's food?"

"It's what I need," she replied, sighing. Great, not even the other robot alien creature knew what it was. How was she going to get any now? _Why am I even asking myself this?! This isn't the time to think about food! There are more important things going on, like what happened to London and where is Peter?_!

"Are you all right?" 2 asked her, bringing her back out of her thoughts.

She shook her head. She definitely wasn't all right.

"Oh..." 2 looked at 5 then back at her. "I'm sorry, I wish I could do something to help."

"You can," she sighed. "You can find Peter."

"Peter?" he blinked, confused. "Who is Peter?"

The fairy sighed, rubbing her temples in frustration. How in the world was she going to explain this to them? They probably wouldn't even believe her, but then again they didn't seem to be very bothered by the fact that she was real and she had wings. Sure, they found her interesting, but other than that it didn't seem that big of a deal to them.

"A friend," she said simply.

"What kind of a friend?" 2 asked.

"Someone who is very important to me."

"Oh, I see," 2 nodded his head as if he understood completely. "Searching for someone you care about."

She nodded. "But he wasn't where I thought he would be,"she explained. "and when I thought about looking elsewhere those machines came after me."

"Yes, the machines," he sighed, looking at 5. "They always seem to come along at the wrong times."

Tinkerbell noticed 5 touched the patched part of his face when the other stitchpunk said this, as if he were reliving a memory.

"Where did they come from?" she asked 2. "I don't remember any of those things being there when I last came here."

"I don't know," he admitted. "I can only guess but I'm probably wrong..."

"Tell me anyway."

2 needed no further prompting and began his story.

* * *

7 had gone to her own section of the sanctuary after she and 2 brought Tinkerbell back from the emptiness. They had had to be discreet about it and the only other person who knew about her was 5. It wasn't that she didn't trust 6 or the twins, she just didn't want to risk anyone else finding out about her and the word reaching 1 who definitely wouldn't be happy to her about their newest addition.

The female stitchpunk sat on a beam of wood, away from everyone else as she thought about what had happened. Mostly about Tinkerbell and the questions surrounding her. What was she? Who was she? How had she wound up in the city and why hadn't the poison killed her?

_She's not human,_ the female stitchpunk thought. _No human is that small. But she looks like one. The only difference is she's tiny and has wings. Why does she have wings? What is she? _

"7!"

_Oh no. _

She looked down from the beam, catching a glimpse of a familiar figure. 1. What did he want now? Was he going to chew her out for leaving the building again? It had been his idea to begin with.

"What?" she called down with annoyance.

The older stitchpunk looked up at her, squinting his optics in frustration. "Get down here!" he ordered. "I'm not going to shout up to you!"

7 sighed with annoyance and jumped down, landing before him and turning to face him. "What?" she asked again in the same tone.

"Don't address me like that," he snapped. "I'm not in the mood right now for your juvenile speech."

7 frowned at him. "and I'm in no mood for your lectures, 1," she shot back. "and if you don't like my tone you can easily stop talking to me. I'm sure we'll both be happier that way."

1 glared at her then decided to let the matter drop, instead switching to the real reason he'd come looking for her. "How long have you been back?" he demanded.

"A few hours." she shrugged. What did it matter?

"Why didn't you come to me right away when you and 2 returned?" he snapped. "I specifically told you to do so."

"It must have slipped my mind." and it had, since she'd had other things occupying her thoughts at the time.

"I don't believe that."

"I don't care what you believe, 1."

1 folded his arms, his glare becoming cold. "Either way if you hadn't come to me you could have asked 2 to do it but he didn't pay me a visit either, why is that? Are you two trying to hide something from me?"

"Why would we do that?" she frowned.

"I don't know," he relied. "Why do you do anything to anger me?"

"Look, 1, I'm not in the mood to play this game with you right now," she responded. "So why don't you just get to the point already?"

"I want to know how it went." he folded his arms. "and I'd like to know now."

She sighed, figuring she might as well tell him. At least doing so would keep him from looking for 2 and accidentally stumbling upon their guest. Heaven knew how that would end.

With that in mind she began to related the outcome of the events, while withholding certain pieces of information.


End file.
